Your Back To School Outfit: Do's and Don'ts

The day school starts, you want to walk through those high school doors looking super fresh: cool, yet casual, like you didn't try too hard. Here's how to do it.

DO: Be prepared. To avoid stressing yourself out on the first day of school, pick out your outfit the night before. That way, when you wake up, you can focus on getting your hair to stop looking like a helmet, and making sure you don’t forget where your bus stop is.

DON’T:Agonize. Give yourself 24 hours to contemplate your look, but don’t agonize about it for weeks. We’ll allow you to go shopping once with the first day of school in mind, but don’t overanalyze your outfit and rethink your choices after you get home. Remember: it’s just clothing.

DO:Consider the climate. Show up to school in clothes that are weather-appropriate. School might start in September, but if it's still 90+ degrees outside, don’t wear your new leather boots. We know it's tempting to pretend that fall has started by busting out jeans, a flannel shirt, and a cute jacket, but remember, you want to be comfortable, and nothing's worse than sweating in a school whose air conditioning sucks. On the other hand...

DON’T:Get too hot. Just because it’s warm out doesn’t mean you get to show up in booty shorts and a halter top that's really more of a bra attached to a shirt. You don’t want people focusing on the friends below your face (especially your teachers, ew!). Keep it classy on your first day: if you're wearing shorts on the shorter side, pick a cute tee with a high neckline. If you're wearing jeans or capris, you can get a way with showing a bit more skin on top, as long as you’d still consider yourself PG. Remember, this is school, people, not a club.

DO: Be unique.We encourage you to wear something that makes you different—if you can pull off that vintage braided hairband that gives you the ultimate hippy chic look, go for it! Maybe colored jeans are really your thing, or wedge shoes do it for you—whatever you’re loving right now, don’t be scared to show it to your co-eds. If you have an old favorite you can rely on, don’t shy away from that either—that’s just your thang, honey-boo-boo-child.

DON’T:Wear it at all at once.Wearing multiple trends at one time makes you look like a fashionphile gone wrong. There IS sometimes too much of a good thing. If you look in the mirror and see a neon shirt, a big statement necklace, true red lipstick, huge sunglasses, glittery BOBS, a chunky belt around your waist, and leopard print skinny jeans, you may have gone too far. On the plus side, you're sure to get noticed on the first day.

We know you’re going to look A+ awesome on your first day. Do you already have an idea of what you might wear? Will you go for an old favorite or start things off with a new look? We’re dying to know!

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About the Author

Sissy is a woman/girl who lives, works and eats too much popcorn on the north side of Chicago. Bet you couldn't guess that her real name is actually not Sissy, but it's what her family likes to call her by. Also, She's loud and is very glad you can't hear her.